Targeting options by placement

For possible placement combinations, refer to the GET line_items/placements endpoint. Each placement has different options for targeting. Location, Platform and Gender are available for all. The other options are contextual to the type of placement.

Followers Of: Target the followers of any fully promotable users for the current account (note, currently the primary account holder is the only fully-promotable user of that account). GET accounts/:account_id/promotable_users to get a list of promotable users.

New Mobile Device Targeting: Reach users based on the date that they first accessed Twitter via their device, using the targeting types NETWORK_ACTIVATION_DURATION_LT and NETWORK_ACTIVATION_DURATION_GTE.

Platforms, Platform Versions, Devices, and Wifi-Only: Allows targeting of mobile devices across a variety of vectors. Platforms is a high-level targeting type that can hit broad categories of phone. Example values are iOS and Android. Devices allow you to target users of specific mobile devices, for example the iPhone 5s, Nexus 4, or Samsung Galaxy Note. Platform versions allow you to target users of versions of specific mobile operating systems, down to the point release. Examples include iOS 7.1 and Android 4.4. Wifi-Only allows you to target only those users who are using their devices on a WiFi network; if this is not set, users using the carrier connection as well as WiFi will be targeted.

Users can target platforms and devices if there is no overlap. I can target Blackberry as a platform and iPad Air as a device simultaneously.

Users can target devices and os versions simultaneously. I can target iPad Air and iOS >= 7.0.

Users cannot target platforms that are broader than devices. I cannot target iOS and iPad Air.

Tailored Audiences: Reach users through an approved ads partner to target groups of customers and connect with them on Twitter.

Tweet Engager Retargeting

Tweet engager retargeting enables advertisers to target audiences across devices who have previously been exposed to or engaged with their promoted or organic Tweets on Twitter. With this targeting advertisers can follow up with people who saw or engaged with an advertiser’s content on Twitter and are most likely to further engage or convert with subsequent messaging or offers. Users will be eligible for targeting within minutes of exposure or engagement and will remain eligible for up to 90 days afterwards for engagements and 30 days for exposures.

Tweet Engager Targeting Types:

ENGAGEMENT_TYPE which accepts either IMPRESSION or ENGAGEMENT as a targeting value. This specifies whether you wish to target exposed users (IMPRESSION) or engaged users (ENGAGEMENT).

CAMPAIGN_ENGAGEMENT uses a campaign ID as the targeting value. Users who engaged with or were exposed to this campaign (depending on ENGAGEMENT_TYPE) are the ones who will be targeted.

USER_ENGAGEMENT which uses the promoted user ID as the targeting value to target users who were exposed to or engaged with an advertiser’s organic content (depending on ENGAGEMENT_TYPE). This must be the promoted user ID associated with the Ads account.

Note:ENGAGEMENT_TYPE is required in addition to at least one valid CAMPAIGN_ENGAGEMENT or USER_ENGAGEMENT value. Both tweet engager targeting types may be present and multiple campaigns may be targeted on a given line item.

Video Viewer Targeting: Video viewer targeting builds on Tweet engager targeting to enable advertisers to target audiences who have previously watched part or all of a video on Twitter. Advertisers can target organic videos, promoted videos, or both. Promoted videos are not limited to video view objective campaigns or line items.

Video Viewer Targeting Types:

VIDEO_VIEW for users who have clicked to play the video or have viewed in 100% view for 3 seconds of autoplay

VIDEO_VIEW_PARTIAL for users who have viewed 50% of the video

VIDEO_VIEW_COMPLETE for users who have viewed at least 95% of the video

As with Tweet engager targeting, one or both of the following must also be present in targeting criteria for the line item when ENGAGEMENT_TYPE is used:

CAMPAIGN_ENGAGEMENT uses a campaign ID as the targeting value. Users who watched a video (based on ENGAGEMENT_TYPE) in this campaign are the ones who will be targeted.

USER_ENGAGEMENT which uses the promoted user ID as the targeting value to target users who watched a video (based on ENGAGEMENT_TYPE) in an advertiser’s organic content. This must be the promoted user ID associated with the Ads account.

Keyword Types

Broad (default value): match all words, independent of order. Not sensitive to capitalization, plurals or tense. Will automatically be expanded when possible (i.e. “car repair” would also match “automobile fix”). If you want to target without expansion, you need to add a + sign before the keywords, like “+boat +jet”. Using keywords without the + will default to Broad Match.

Unordered (deprecated): match all words, independent of order. Not sensitive to capitalization, plurals or tense.

Phrase: match the exact keywords string, other keywords can be present.

Exact: match exactly the keywords string, not any others.

Negative: avoid matching searches that include all of these keywords somewhere in the query, regardless of the order in which they are written, even if other words are present.

Negative Phrase: avoid matching searches that include this exact keywords string somewhere in the query, even if other words are present.

Negative Exact: avoid matching searches that exactly match these keywords and contain no other words.

Emoji targeting

Emoji targeting is supported via keyword targeting. To use emoji targeting, simply create keyword targeting for Unicode codepoints representing that emoji such as U+1F602 (xF0x9Fx98x82 in UTF-8) for the ‘face with tears of joy’ emoji (&#x1f602;). Emoji which we accept can be confirmed with the twemoji list. Targeting an emoji targets all variations.

Targeting Criteria Combinations

Updated Campaign Workflow

Create campaigns which target broadly with geo, gender, language, and device/platform criteria. Advertisers can then combine the broad targeting with additional targeting criteria (e.g. interests, keywords, followers, tailored audiences, TV). If no targeting criteria is specified for a line item, the line item will target all users worldwide.

“Primary” Types

Other Types

Followers

Locations

Tailored Audiences

Gender

Interests

Languages

Keywords

Devices and platforms

TV

Age

Targeting criteria will be combined for your ad group such that:

“Primary” Targeting Types will get ∪‘d (i.e. put in a logical union).

Other Targeting Types will get AND‘d.

Same types will get OR‘d.

Some examples

At a glance: [(Followers) ∪ (Tailored Audiences) ∪ (Interests) ∪ (Keywords)] AND (Location) AND (Gender) AND (Languages) AND (Devices and Platforms)

A Geo example:

Let’s say we want an ad group for our campaign to serve targeting:

Twitter users in the U.S., England, and Canada (Location)

who are Women (Gender)

derived from Tailored Audiences list (“Primary”)

with Keywords (“Primary”)

The targeting criteria will be:

[US OR GB OR CA] AND [Female] AND [Tailored Audiences ∪ Keyword]

Additional examples

Select Gender and Geo but no primary: (Male) AND (US OR GB)

Select Gender, Geo, Interest: (Female) AND (CA) AND (Computers OR Technology OR Startups)

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